Editing Kaze no Stigma:Volume2 Chapter 2 (section)

=== Part 1 ===

The boy’s arm was wreathed in red flame.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

A wordless scream escaped the boy’s mouth.

So hot – there was no room in his mind for anything but the heat, all thought being stolen by the crimson flame.

He continuously rolled on the ground, attempting to extinguish the flame. Nearby, some children observed his pitiable state.

I say children, but that belies the range of their ages. The smallest were young children of only four or five while the oldest were full-grown teenagers of fifteen or sixteen.

Their sole common denominator could be seen on their faces.

Scorn.

This group of children joyfully surrounded the burning youth, laughing with mirth.

An unfeigned laughter that came from the heart. Innocent. Naive. Cruel.

The cruelty of a child who cannot differentiate between right and wrong. Like children who pluck off the wings of a dragonfly just to watch it struggle, they enjoyed the youth’s predicament as he painfully struggled the same way.

“A member of the main family getting burned by fire!”

“How useless!”

“‘A humiliation to the clan,’ my father said!”

“Someone as worthless as you has no right to bear the name ‘Kannagi!’”

The boy could only hug his burnt arm, his face showing a painful expression as the others continued to mock him, one after another.

“It’s my turn!”

A young girl around ten years old raised her hand to declare.

“Oh– Go on. Quickly now!”

The children cheered. The girl, encouraged, held her fist to her chest and began to concentrate.

“Heh!”

Following the cute shout, a red flame suddenly appeared like a ghost above the cringing youth.

The fire slowly descended until it touched the boy’s back.

Sssssssss!

“...!”

The sound of burning meat could be heard. The youth’s body, originally curled into a ball, straightened out forcefully. This scene served only to amplify the mocking.

“My turn next!”

“I wanna go too!”

His legs, his back, his shoulders – all were continuously tattooed by the ferocious flame. Each time the boy’s body instinctively twitched. Each time it gave off a burning smell.

Despite the horrid cruelty of their actions, none present felt the least degree of guilt. To them, fire was nothing to fear.

Were they to be put in his shoes, they would not experience the smallest discomfort. Even for those whose “power” was ‘weak,’ the most that would burn would be their clothes – their bodies would remain completely unharmed.

This was because their clan had been blessed with fire‘s protection.

Because of this, these children were completely unaware of the dangers of fire, and they did not understand the pain of being scorched.

You cannot imagine what you do not know, and because they were unable to imagine the pain, they saw nothing wrong with what they were doing.

The boy silently endured the innocent and naive torture of the other children in the clan alone.


“Ah... Ah...”

By the time the children were finally satisfied, the youth was left to painfully contend with his smoking body.

“Ahhh– that was fun.”

“Bye bye. Let’s play again~”

As part of their exit ritual, everyone present gave the twitching body a merciless kick. But before anyone could leave, the eldest and largest boy went further and stomped on the boy’s head.

“...Hmm?”

“What’s wrong with Toru?”

Hearing the large boy, Toru Kuga, let out a pathetic cry, the others turned in surprise.

“You... You foolish idiot!”

The head that Toru had forcefully stepped on was now slowly lifting itself upward. The youth used his hands as support against the ground and stared intently at Toru from below.

“You... What are you trying to do...?”

Seeing those eyes, filled with murder, Toru couldn’t help but retreat in fright. Immediately filled with shame at his actions, he became angry.

“What’s with that look? This worthless scum actually dares to resist?!”

Toru summoned a flame, angrily throwing it in the youth’s direction.

The youth quickly rose and dodged the incoming flame. Dragging his heavily wounded frame, he dashed at incredible speed, closing in on Toru.

“W... Wah...”

Aiming directly at the terrified Toru’s face, he exerted all the strength in his body to strike him with his palm.

Pachunk! [SFX: something breaking]

Toru’s nose had broken.

“Toru!”

While the group could only stare, aghast at the sudden incident, the boy attacked two more people. Driven in his berserk rage, his fist broke the first’s cheekbones and the second’s chin, causing them to roll in pain as he did earlier.

“...Wu...Ah...!”

But his mad rush ended there. The burden his actions had placed on his pained body was beyond the limits of his will. His stomach heaved, and as if trying to reject everything, he vomited over and over.

“You...! How dare you...!”

Realizing that they were no longer at risk, the others took heart. In order to punish this thing that didn’t know its place, they began to focus their mental energy.

But–

“All of you... Get lost!”

A weak, yet furious voice stopped them. They looked back in fear, and before their eyes was...

“I am going to slaughter you...”

Fresh blood streaming from his nose, Toru gazed at the boy with bloodshot, insane eyes, devoid of reason.

“I am so going to slaughter you–!”

An insane fury amplified Toru’s abilities several-fold. Stretching his right hand directly upward, he summoned a huge fireball that seemed encased by a pair of hands.

“Go and die!”

The youth’s eyes didn’t blink. They could only stare at the fireball. Despite his body’s inability to move, he refused to give in. Like a wounded beast with death fast approaching, he searched for any sign of weakness in his enemy.

– Kaboom!

“Hmph! Now you know my strength!”

Seeing the youth wrapped in flame, Toru smiled.

The flame gradually dispersed. But amidst the disappearing flame, what appeared was...

“Ah... Ah?”

Contrary to Toru’s expectations, the boy yet lived. Parts of his body were burnt black, but his limbs still remained; he had successfully withstood Toru’s flame.

Using every last drop of his ''ki'' to create a defensive barrier, the youth had just barely managed to survive.

“You... You asshole...”

Toru’s expression grew more sinister. If he were to prove unable to beat this youth who lacked even a hint of ability as an ''En-jutsu'', he would forever be looked down upon and despised by the others.

“Arrogant trash!”

This scream, filled with displeasure, failed to reach the boy’s ears. His body had long since surpassed its limits, and having spent all his ''ki,'' he was no different from a walking corpse.

Not content to simply leave the youth to die, Toru prepared to give him a fatal strike. Against his fate, the youth was helpless.



“...”

Kazuma suddenly opened his eyes. This was a rare occasion for him – he usually had a hard time waking up – but his consciousness was fully awake.

But it was only to be expected. How could anyone refuse to wake up after having a dream like that?

Maintaining his waking posture, Kazuma faced upward and he looked silently at the ceiling. Unblinking, he remained like this for a full half-minute.

“Frankly speaking, what an unpleasant dream.”

Closing his eyes, he emptied all the air in his lungs with a moan.

Something that had happened exactly ten years ago, a painful experience that caused nightmares.

Of the eighteen years he had spent among the Kannagis, that was his most painful experience. Had no one put a stop to it, he might have died.

Due to the level of his injuries, despite receiving the highest level recovery ''jutsus'' daily, it had taken him a month to recover.

But that was not what was important. To Kazuma, it was his first defeat.

Not in terms of the injuries he sustained.

But for giving in to despair.

Once he had understood that he could not win against the Kannagis’ flames, that he would forever be a weakling, Kazuma had given up on fighting back.

He had given in to those that scorned him.

From that day forward, Kazuma had continued to run away. Not resisting, pitifully pleading for mercy, enduring endless torment, endless public humiliation.

But it no longer mattered.

Because he was no longer willing to partake of that misery.

“...I can’t forget.”

Kazuma realized that his memories of his past humiliations were as clear as if they had happened only yesterday and murmured to himself.

“I don’t even mind.”

Even though he was now in Japan once more, he had never even considered taking revenge – even though doing so would have been a painfully simple task.

To bend his pinky three centimeters; if the effort needed to kill Toru were converted to energy – that would be precisely how much would be required. Any strength Toru had gained in the last four years would be inconsequential.

(...That’s odd...?)

Kazuma’s train of thought was suddenly interrupted. He realized he could not picture Toru.

“Have I not seen him yet?”

Despite meeting several groups of branch family ''jutsushis'', he hadn’t spent any time verifying their identities, so he was unsure whether or not he had met Toru.

“...Whatever. It doesn’t matter.”

Pushing the question to the back of his mind, Kazuma covered himself with the covers once more. Though fully awake, he had nothing in particular to do, and didn’t feel like getting up just yet.

(Let’s get some more sleep...)

Alas, the heavens did not seem to agree with this unproductive decision.

Dulululululululululu–

Kazuma glared at the ringing phone, openly displaying his irritation.

What a crafty ring. The more he tried to ignore the ringing, the more insistent it seemed to get, and yet it wasn’t so loud that he would wreck the phone in frustration.

“Damn it!”

Left with no other alternative, Kazuma reached for the phone. But instead of leaving his bed for the phone, he brought the phone to him.

“...Who’s making a call so early in the morning?” he grumbled in a mournful tone, despite the fact it was already late morning.

“Hello?”

He spoke in a sluggish tone – giving away the fact that he had just woken up – but his tranquil mind was pondering the courteous reply from the other end.

“Oh?”

This time, Kazuma was fully awake. There was no longer any sign of fatigue on the face that suddenly emerged from the covers.

“Today? Ah, sure. I’ll be looking forward to it.”

Kazuma answered politely, and then hung up. He flipped the covers back and crawled out, stretching lazily.

With his usual complacent smile now on his face, Kazuma muttered.

“Looks like it’s gonna be a busy day.”